Amusement and educational device



Dec. 24, 1963 v. A. THEISEN AMUSEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Filed June 2. 1961 uvmvrozg. v filmy/717772615612,

United States Patent 3 115 344 AMUSEMENT AND ED UCATIQNAL nnvrcn Vincent A. Theisen, Wilmington, Del., assignor to DllVQlSlfied Products, Inc, Wilmington, DeL, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 2, 1961, Ser. No. 114,519 3 Claims. ((31. 273-116) The present invention relates to a device having utility as a toy, game, and/ or a device of educational character and a pleasant form of muscular therapy.

An object of the invention is to provide an attractive self-contained unit manipulatable manually to provide amusement and to provide either a solitaire or a competitive game based on a predetermined score arrangement.

Another object is to provide a transparent capsule with a plurality of vertically spaced compartments formed by a plurality of spaced partitions or shelves having individual score indicating openings or depressions adapted to retain movable game pieces therein in combination with relatively large openings, which permit some of the movable game pieces to pass therethrough successively from one shelf to another in a lower compartment by manual manipulation of the capsule.

Still another object is to provide a sealed transparent unit with spaced apart obstacle course means, and with freely movable balls therein, which balls may be of different colors to be manipulated into corresponding shelf openings or depressions or which may be numbered to correspond to numbered depressions or shelf opening, such colors and numbers having utility for education purposes.

Yet another object is to provide an article of manu facture which can be made in mass production very economically.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detailed description which follows, taken with the accompanying drawings wherein one embodiment of the invention is illustrated. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal cross section view of the completely assembled self-contained unit;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse cross section view taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse section view taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse section view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a transverse section view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

Referring in detail to the drawings and first with particular reference to FIGURE 1, there is illustrated a preferred form of the complete unit comprising a cylinder having a top wall 11 and a bottom wall 12. This unit may be broadly termed a sealed capsule since the top and bottom walls are fused to the respective end rims at the top and bottom of the cylinder 10, to thereby form an integrally sealed structure.

Prior to the end sealing of the top and bottom walls to the cylinder, a plurality of vertically spaced shelves or partitions 13, 14 and 15 are secured with the bore of the cylinder 16 in the provision of chambers A, B, C and D. These partitions are each formed with a plurality of openings of different sizes. For example, openings 18 are relatively smaller than the opening or openings 19 therein. The smaller openings 18 serve as a pocket to catch a movable game piece, such as one of a plurality of balls 20, while the openings 19 are larger than the diameter of 3,115,344 Patented Dec. 24, 1963 the balls 20 and permit the balls to drop therethrough to the next partition and so on successively, until at least some of the balls filter through to the interior surface of the bottom wall 12. Such openings 18 are arranged in various radial patterns with respect to one or more of the openings 19 and if preferred the openings 18 may be depressions.

Further in regard to the openings 18 or depressions, the same may be marked around the periphery thereof with different colors or with numbers, which colors or numbers may correspond to colors or numbers on the balls 20. This color and number combination together provides a novel result in education diversion, for example, in the form of addition and subtraction as well as providing for various game arrangements.

In reference to the several shelves or partitions, such as 13, 14 and 15, each partition is formed with an opening 21 larger than the diameter of the balls 20. Each of the respective openings 21 is enshrouded with an upstanding conical flange 22 formed from each respective partition at a peripheral edge thereof. This flange 22 extends upward toward the top wall 11 of the capsule and provides an inverted funnel means and prevents any of the game pieces or balls 20 from entering the openings 21 while the top wall 11 is uppermost. Thus during game play, or use of the device, the wall 11 is maintained uppermost and balls can only drop through the openings 19 or become lodged in one or more of the openings or depressions 18.

When, however, the play is completed and the balls 20 have arrived at their final played positions, the capsule is inverted so as to position the bottom wall 12 thereof uppermost. Then with proper manipulation the balls 20 are all returned through the funnel means 22 back into the uppermost chamber A.

Obviously, there are many ways of using the present device, for example, the game may be played as follows:

All balls 20 are grouped in chamber A by inverting the capsule 10 so that all balls 20 will funnel through the return funnel means 22 as shown in FIGURE 1. After the balls are all in chamber A the operator attempts to place one ball in each of the relatively smaller or de pressed areas 18 of the first shelf or partition 13 and the remaining balls pass through the relatively larger opening 19 to the second shelf or partition 14 in chamber B. The process is repeated in chamber B as the balls 20 are manipulated by tilting the capsule 10, so that the fall into the openings or depressed areas 18 and the remaining balls drop through openings 19 onto shelf or partition 15 in chamber C. Again the process is repeated as the capsule is tilted to manipulate the balls 20 into the openings or depressed areas 18 of the shelf 15, until finally the uncontrolled remaining balls pass through the opening 19 into the bottom chamber D.

Various arrangements for tallying up the final score or the like may then be determined.

To replay the game the capsule 10 is invert-ed and tilted so the balls 249i feed through the openings of the funnel means 22 back into the top chamber A.

Thus there is provided a self-contained transparent game device for use as a toy of an amusing and educational character and also for use as a pleasant form of therapy for muscular cases, since the physical manipulation of the device by the operator will provide for development of coordination, as well as the mental reactions resulting from amusement and the related teaching functions thereof.

While the invention has been disclosed in accordance with certain specific structural embodiments thereof, such are to be considered as illustrative only, and not restn'ctive, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A self-contained sealed unit comprising an elongated transparent capsule, vertically spaced partitions within said capsule, said spaces between said partitions providing upper and lower compartments above and below said partitions, each of said partitions being formed with a plurality of openings, some of said openings being of diflferent size from others of said openings, a plurality of freely movable game pieces confined within said capsule, said game pieces being collectable in said compartments and some being retained in a compartment in some of said relatively smaller openings of one of said partitions and others being transferable through some of said relatively larger partition openings from one compartment into another compartment, some of said game pieces filtering through partition openings into the lowermost of said compartments, and aligned superimposed inverted game piece return funnel-means formed in each partition above each compartment below the uppermost compartment in 'said capsule, whereby upon reversing the capsule to position the lowermost compartment uppermost, said game pieces upon manipulation are returnable to original position through said aligned tunnel-means.

2. The self-contained sealed unit described in claim 1, wherein the partitions are each d-iilerentially termed with various size groupings of openings, one opening of a group being relatively smaller than the same game pieces, so as to retain a game piece therein, a second opening of a group being relatively larger than the said game pieces so as to permit the game pieces to fall therethrough by gravity to the next lower compartment, and wherein said aligned superimposed inverted funnel means are each similarly formed at one side of each or" said partitions with an inverted cone-shaped flange enshrouding a third 4 type of opening relatively larger than said game pieces, said flanges being in superimposed alignment for each third type opening preventingthe game pieces from entering the opening in each partition enshrouded by said cone-shaped flange, until said capsule is completely inverted.

3. A device for teaching coordination in children and handicapped individuals comprising a sealed transparent cylinder having a top and a bottom Wall, a. plurality of dividing partitions sealed in said cylinder, each of said partitions being formed with relatively large and relatively smaller openingstherein, a plurality of round objects sealed in said cylinder, said objects being pocketed in said relatively smaller openings and falling through said relatively larger openings onto the next lower partitions successively until some or all of said round objects are resting upon the bottom Wall of said cylinder, and inverted conical shrouds around one of said relatively larger openings serving as a baffle to prevent the passage therethrowgh of any of said round objects passing downward toward the said bottom Wall of the cylinder, but permitting the said objects to pass therethrough upon reversing the bottom wall to the position of the said top Wall of the cylinder, whereby the said objects are returnable to starting position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 772,281 Jurado Oct. 11, 1904 913,582 Taylor Feb. 23, 1909 1,290,726 Duggan Ian. 7, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS 6,807 Great Britain 1911 

1. A SELF-CONTAINED SEALED UNIT COMPRISING AN ELONGATED TRANSPARENT CAPSULE, VERTICALLY SPACED PARTITIONS WITHIN SAID CAPSULE, SAID SPACES BETWEEN SAID PARTITIONS PROVIDING UPPER AND LOWER COMPARTMENTS ABOVE AND BELOW SAID PARTITIONS, EACH OF SAID PARTITIONS BEING FORMED WITH A PLURALITY OF OPENINGS, SOME OF SAID OPENINGS BEING OF DIFFERENT SIZE FROM OTHERS OF SAID OPENINGS, A PLURALITY OF FREELY MOVABLE GAME PIECES CONFINED WITHIN SAID CAPSULE, SAID GAME PIECES BEING COLLECTABEL IN SAID COMPARTMENTS AND SOME BEING RETAINED IN A COMPARTMENT IN SOME OF SAID RELATIVELY SMALLER OPENINGS OF ONE OF SAID PARTITIONS AND OTHERS BEING TRANSFERABLE THROUGH SOME OF SAID RELATIVELY LARGER PARTITION OPENINGS FROM ONE COMPARTMENT INTO ANOTHER COMPARTMENT, SOME OF SAID GAME PIECES FILTERING THROUGH PARTITION OPENINGS INTO THE LOWERMOST OF SAID COMPARTMENTS, AND ALIGNED SUPERIMPOSED INVERTED GAME PIECE RETURN FUNNEL-MEANS FORMED IN EACH PARTITION ABOVE EACH COMPARTMENT BELOW THE UPPERMOST COMPARTMENT IN SAID CAPSULE, WHEREBY UPON REVERSING THE CAPSULE TO POSITION THE LOWERMOST COMPARTMENT UPPERMOST, SAID GAME PIECES UPON MANIPULATION ARE RETURNABLE TO ORIGINAL POSITION THROUGH SAID ALIGNED FUNNEL-MEANS. 